Willing myself not to look away, I tried to make out her features and realised, with a jolt, that she looked exactly like me. Like me, but different. Something about how she held herself told me that this girl was as strong as steel. I knew instinctively that I should not look away. Then the Other Me smiled and said, ‘Don’t worry Lolly. I’ve got this.’

Who is Lolly, really? And who is the man who claims to love her? What happens when they drop their carefully constructed masks and allow their real selves to be seen?

Sangomas and cops don’t mix. Usually. But this is Joburg, a metropolis that is equal parts flash and shadow, and where not everything can be easily explained.

Ian Jack, a disillusioned former police officer, teams up with Reshma Patel, a colleague from his old life, to investigate a routine housebreaking gone bad. But when they uncover links to a possible animal poaching and trafficking syndicate, things go from complicated to dangerous to downright evil.

Set against the richly textured backdrop of a livewire African city, this fast-paced thriller offers a disturbing contemporary take on justice and morality. To be read with the lights on.

David shares a close bond with his eight-year-old son, Chris, but their family is destroyed when David dies.

In the afterlife, he is given an opportunity. He is told that he may be granted three viewings by which to look in on his son. The terms are strict: he cannot help his boy. He cannot reach him, or teach him, or in any way change the course of his life. David agrees, and on three separate occasions observes his son’s unfolding story.

The first viewing takes place one year after his own death. The second shows him his son at the age of nineteen. David’s final viewing shows him the final days of Chris’s life.

What David sees will not leave him. He has a simple but impassioned request: ‘Let me take his place’.

Koos se nuutste roman soos net hy dit kan skryf, maar ook meer.

Dit is ‘n donker komedie gebore uit die wanhoop en isolasie van die afgelope twee jaar se grendeltyd.

Casey Olivier van Velddrif in die Sandveld aan die skilderagtige Weskus het alles: ’n goeie man, twee suksesvolle seuns en lekker kantoorwerk by die munisipaliteit.

Dog, reeds van haar tienerjare smag sy na die groen gras aan die ander kant van die draad. Helaas ook na wat baie mense sal afkeur as onsedelikheid. Dit lê in haar gene. Afkomstig uit die geslag van haar ontugtige oumagrootjie, Anna Smit, kan sy beswaarlik beter vaar, verdedig sy haarself.

Die roman begin in 1861, strek oor vier geslagte en eindig in 2020, die jaar van die groot Covid-19-pandemie – op ’n verrasssende hoogtepunt.

A cold case for Captain Benny Griessel and Vaughn Cupido of the Hawks elite police unit - not what they were looking for. And a difficult case, too. The body of Johnson Johnson, ex-cop, has been found beside a railway line. He appears to have jumped from South Africa's - perhaps the world's - most luxurious train, and two suspicious characters seen with him have disappeared into thin air. The regular police have already failed to make progress and others are intent on muddying the waters.

Meanwhile in Bordeaux, Daniel Darret is settled in a new life on a different continent. A quiet life. But his skills as an international hit-man are required one more time, and Daniel is given no choice in the matter. He must hunt again - his prey the corrupt president of his homeland.

Three strands of the same story become entwined in a ferocious race against time - for the Hawks to work out what lies behind the death of Johnson, for Daniel to evade the relentless Russian agents tracking him, for Benny Griessel to survive long enough to take another huge step in his efforts to piece together again the life he nearly destroyed - and finally ask Alexa Bernard to marry him.

The Last Hunt shows one of the great crime writers operating at the peak of his powers. (Released as Prooi in Afrikaans)

"Don’t come!" Kate is told by her only child. Jess is keeping her mother at a distance on the day that her own children, conjoined twins, are to be separated during high-risk surgery in London. Kate wakes on her farm in the Eastern Cape, torn between respecting Jess’s wishes and a longing to rush to her estranged daughter’s side.

A former geneticist disillusioned by the pressing ethical questions posed by her job, Kate is now an award-winning maker of organic cheese. She relies on the farm’s routine and the people and animals in her life to hold steady as her day teeters on a knife’s edge. Meanwhile, her employee Nosisi’s son is undergoing initiation. Forbidden to have contact with him during this traditional passage into the world of manhood, his mother anxiously awaits his return.

Breaking Milk, Dawn Garisch’s seventh novel, is an evocative exploration of the divisions and connections between humans, animals and the environment.

Malachi is recruited by a powerful pharmaceutical company to work at their top-secret facility off the African coast. Frasier Pharmaceuticals are assured of his discretion, as his tongue was cut out in an attack by genocidaires. At their organ farming operation, they can offer him more than financial reward - Malachi will get a new tongue. He simply has to act as carer and jail-keeper to the hardened criminals who are used as subjects. But are the prisoner-donors all as bad as the company says?

Dis die goeie ou dae van chat rooms en Internet Explorer; emoji’s met leestekens; waar jy moet verduidelik wat afkortings soos LOL beteken; en Joost en Amor is Suid-Afrika se “it couple”.

Zoë Zietsman sit op Oukersaand stoksielalleen voor haar rekenaar – sonder selfs ’n hond om mee te cuddle. En cuddle is volgens Zoë ’n basic human right. Vanaand is die aand, besluit sy terwyl sy as “Volksie” op die Matchmatewebwerf inteken.

Só ontmoet sy vir “Donatello”, ’n advokaat wat sy klerekas colour code en net suiwer Afrikaans praat. Zoë, daarenteen, meng haar tale, sy ry nog met haar Vespa en gee jogaklasse vir swanger vroue.

Wat het ’n konserwatiewe metro-man en ’n alternatiewe maltrap soos Zoë gemeen? Met twee goeie feë in die gedaante van ’n gay boesembuddie en ’n huishulp wat nie met haar laat sukkel nie, kan Mars en Venus dalk tog bymekaarkom.

Maar kan mens regtig jou instink vertrou oor skerms, sleutelborde en digitale kabels?

“We must do something to pass the time, I thought. Two women in a room, hands and feet tied.”

Kidnapped in Nigeria by a group not unlike Boko Haram, two women, Nwabulu and Julie, relate the stories of the very different lives fate has meted out for them.

When Nwabulu’s father dies, her stepmother sends her off to become a housemaid. For years, she suffers the abuse of employers, a love affair with an employer’s son offering little comfort. Out of their union a son is born, but the young Nwabulu has to give him up, and is bound to suffer in her stepmother’s home again until she can flee, establishing herself as a fashion designer, finally able to inhabit Julie’s world.

Julie: privileged, educated, and adored by her parents. She has the opportunity to become whomever she desires. But sometimes too much choice can be a dangerous thing, and in Julie’s case it is. At thirty-four she is still unmarried and, for the first time, there is pressure: a burden that will only be lifted with the birth of a son. So determined is Julie for release that she goes as far as a polygamous marriage.

While the two women wait for the ransom to be paid, fate will once again decide the course of their lives.

The book, Dry Tears, attempts to highlight the daily struggles of women in the townships and villages, concerning various stereotypes and other forms of unfair treatment. It showcases that abuse is not only physical, but emotional as well, so the author exposes other forms of abuse and mistreatment, mostly under the pretext of upholding values and culture. Although the setting is based in real places, the storyline is entirely the thought of the writer.

The main character, Ntsakisi, goes through a lot of challenging circumstances, trials and tribulations due to the set-up of her community and how society perceives women in general. After losing her husband to a motor vehicle incident, her in-laws subject her to extreme levels of emotional abuse. She is left to fend for her two children alone, yet they never stop involving themselves in her private affairs.

She finds love in a man called Mokoena, a teacher at a local school, but both her family and her in-laws connive to deny her the opportunity to marry her lover.

“Die naald sink tussen haar oe in en buig. Die blink tandartsspuit van vlekvrye staal tref die skedel hard. Bloed. Sy hand lig weer op ...”

Izak Hugo is ’n gefrustreerde tandarts van Port Elizabeth. Hy haat sy werk en smag na ’n meer vervullende lewe. Snags word hy deur gewelddadige drome geteister. Soos sy onvergenoegdheid opbou, begin hy sporadiese oomblikke van geheueverlies beleef.

Wanneer hy ná so ’n episode sy vriend se verwurgde poedel in sy bakkie ontdek, begin hy sy greep op die werklikheid en homself verloor. Sake vererger wanneer ’n jong bendelid vermoor word en die bende vermoed dat lzak die skuldige is. lzak besluit om Transkei toe te vlug, maar die bloedspoor volg hom.

’n Kaalvuis sielkundige riller deur ’n opwindende nuwe skrywer. ’n Geveg tot die dood toe tussen goed en kwaad, maar die rolverdeling is net so onseker soos die uitslag.

Vyf Gautengse vroue swem stroomop deur die lewe. Hulle kom uit baie verskillende wêrelde: Daar’s 'n uitgebrande chirurg, 'n bedroefde tipe A-prokureur, haar opstandige studentedogter, 'n oorgewig, oorstelpte huisvrou en ma van drie, en 'n vreesbevange jong data-analis in haar liefde verlaat. Hulle beland saam in groepsterapie vir die traumas wat die lewe hulle onlangs opgelê het, en deel van die terapie is 'n river rafting-ekskursie op die woeste Oranjerivier. Wanneer hul manlike gids daar in groot moeilikheid beland, moet dié vyf diep verskillende vroue saamspan, verby hul eie probleme en struwelinge kyk en die gevaarwaters sónder hul gids aandurf – of hy, en hulle, oorleef dalk nie.

'n Bemagtigende vroue-avontuur oor spanwerk, volharding en jou eie ding met oortuiging doen, deur die span van Pad na jou hart en Vir altyd.

Die gelyknamige rolprent met Donnalee Roberts in een van die hoofrolle begin 9de Augustus* landwyd draai.

We all know our final destination but we have no idea what will cross our path as we journey there.

It’s 2008 and the height of Zimbabwe’s economic demise. A group of passengers is huddled in a Toyota Quantum about to embark on a treacherous expedition to the City of Gold. Amongst them is Gugulethu, who is hoping to be reconciled with her mother; Dumisani, an ambitious young man who believes he will strike it rich, Chamunorwa and Chenai, twins running from their troubled past; and Portia and Nkosi, a mother and son desperate to be reunited with a husband and father they see once a year.

They have paid a high price for the dangerous passage to what they believe is a better life; an escape from the vicious vagaries of their present life in Bulawayo. In their minds, the streets of Johannesburg are paved with gold but they will have to dig deep to get close to any gold, dirtying themselves in the process.

Told with brave honesty and bold description, the stories of the individual immigrants are simultaneously heart-breaking and heart-warming.

Bongani and Thando are a loving couple, wonderful parents and each running their own successful businesses. They have it all until one chance encounter with a business associate changes the entire course of their lives.

It forces them to question the status quo and make drastic changes that end up having a great impact on those closest to them.

Will they stay and try to figure out how to exist in the new normal? Or do they follow their hearts and live their Truth.

Dina Botha is een van die suksesvolste skrywers in Afrikaans. Sedert Februarie 2013 was Dina Botha 192 keer op Nielsen Bookscan se Top100 vir fiksieverkope.

Hierdie omnibus is ’n samestelling van drie van Dina Botha se vorige Romanzas, Sy rooikopbaas, Liefste Willemientjie en Liefdeskrale.

Sy rooikopbaas:
Voor Sandra haar oë uitvee, sit sy met ’n manlike “sekretaresse” – Ryk Willemse. Maar haar firma word skielik bedreig, Oumsie soek verbete vir haar ’n man, en sy begin wonder: Is sy ’n verstokte oujongnooi, mannetjiesagtig, ’n rooikopheks?

Liefste Willemientjie:
Wilmien het lankal vergeet om aan haarself te dink. Ná haar ouers se dood moet sý sorg, voog van haar vyf broers en suster wees, boer – al maak Rhys du Randt weer die vrou in haar wakker.

Liefdeskrale:
Platsak moet rykmansdogter Esté oorleef, haarself bewys. Sonder haar ontwerpersklere, -skoene, sportmotor. Schalk Brink word haar baas, ’n man wat vroue vir brekfis opeet. En Esté moet net keer. Sy vlam mag haar nie ook skroei nie.

“Hillbrow, 1967. The New York of Africa. Someone wrote that the place would soon have more people per square kilometre than Tokyo. Everyone quoted that article to everyone. Some even cut it out and kept it folded in their wallets.”

While other boys daydream about racing cars and football, eleven-year-old stutterer Phen sits reading to his father. In number four Duchess Court, Phen’s dad looks like a Spitfire pilot behind his oxygen mask. But real life is different from the daring adventures in the books Phen reads and he is forced to grow up faster than other boys his age. This is until Heb Thirteen Two shows up: in his pinstriped suit pants and tie-dyed psychedelic top, the stranger could be any old bum, or a boy’s special angel come to live among men.

Poignant, witty and wise, John Hunt's "The Boy Who Could Keep a Swan in His Head" is a meditation on being alive and shows us the power of books when we need them the most.

Hierdie omnibus is ’n samestelling van drie van Susan Olivier se vorige Romanzas, Bod op ’n biljoenêr, Kylie se keuse en Verborge obsessie.

Bod op ’n biljoenêr:

Agtien maande was nie lank genoeg om Nico te vergeet nie, dit besef Eva die oomblik toe sy hom weer sien, en skielik is sy glad nie meer seker dat sy van hom wil skei nie.

Kylie se keuse:

Toe Kylie ná jare in die buiteland terugkom om haar pa se plek in sy maatskappy in te neem, sit Alex du Preez daar. En daar’s groot fout in die maatskappy. Is hy die skuldige, heuningmond en al?

Verborge obsessie:

Ná al die jare is Michael Meskin terug, nou die wêreldbekende sakeman. Maar hy straf haar, asof Sonika die skuld dra vir sy swakheid van destyds, toe hy die omkoopgeld aanvaar en die pad gevat het, landuit.

Hoë politici sweer saam om Suid-Afrika in ’n diktatorskap te dompel. Die armes het genoeg gehad en kom in opstand. Die land brand. Mense vir wie Thys Krige omgee, kry seer. Iemand moet daarvoor boet.

Hierdie keer word hy betrek by korrupsie en komplotte op regeringsvlak. ’n Korrupte president speel in die hand van buitelandse moondhede met imperialistiese ambisies wat ’n voet in die deur soek. Sagte kolonisasie, noem mens dit. Staatskaping noem die media dit. Die tentakels daarvan al so diep in die struktuur van mense in sleutelposte dat niemand meer seker is wie betrokke is en wie vertrou kan word nie. In sulke gevalle protesteer mense gewoonlik. Hulle kan byvoorbeeld so aggressief gemaak word dat hulle mekaar begin uitroei. Traangas word gedokter met dwelms wat ten doel het dat mense mekaar te lyf gaan. Grootskaalse chaos maak ’n land onregeerbaar. Dryf die mense se frustrasie tot breekpunt. Sweep hulle teen mekaar op. Maar daar is maniere om hulle stemme stil te kry.

In Krige se stryd het drie vroue deel van sy wêreld geword: sy halfsuster, ’n gestremde IT-spesialis en ’n genie wat die donkerweb met die donkerbewuste in die mens se psige in verband bring. Al drie gaan gebuk onder pyn en trauma, soos Krige, en vir al drie ervaar hy iets wat aan liefde gelykgestel kan word.

“Hy voel die wonderlike pyn wegsak, diep in, dieper, dieper, tot dit sag word en tot rus kom op die koue en harde ding in hom.”

A collection of new and critically acclaimed stories by award-winning South African author Ken Barris. Here, Barris's work combines everyday events with the surreal and fantastical: the title story centres on a dog called Worm; in another, husband and wife quarrel over a plugless lamp; and in another, a man encounters a speaking baboon in his kitchen. Poised, lyrical and humorous, the stories in this collection concretise the human condition via the author's characteristically unfettered style.

Angelique van Olgen het op veertien al ’n onverskrokke gees. Nie eens ’n wilde seerower verskrik haar nie. Sy is net so ontembaar soos haar vlamrooi hare en sy laat geen man haar hiet en gebied nie. Maar dis moeilik om nie die knie voor die ewe formidabele aristokraat Graaf Dante de Péronne te buig nie. Hy bekoor haar, maak vreemde wilde begeertes in haar wakker en toets haar onskuld. Selfs toe hulle deur omstandighede verplig word om te trou behou Dante sy afstand. Hy gaan die Kaap sonder haar verlaat. Hy is op ’n missie en dit sluit haar nie in nie.

Hierdie omnibus is ’n samestelling van drie van Elsa Winckler se vorige Romanzas, Waar liefde lê, Want daar’s skoenlappers en Heldergeel dag.

Waar liefde lê:

Lana sien regtig nie kans vir die passievolle omgewingskundige wat ’n Kilimandjaro-ekspedisie reël nie. Sy vrees berge. En sy vrees die uitwerking wat hierdie dinamiese en hartstogtelike man op haar het.

Want daar’s skoenlappers:

Gemma is ’n mediese dokter en Nick ’n oorlogsfotograaf. Boonop is hulle aangetroude familie. Maar op die een of ander manier vryf hulle mekaar telkens verkeerd op. Of is hulle eintlik onweerstaanbaar vir mekaar?

Heldergeel dag:

Cara en haar vriendin Lana se broer Henry kon mekaar nog nooit verdra nie. Of is dit maar hoe mense optree wat eintlik van die begin af te veel van mekaar gehou het? Hulle storie het al in Waar liefde lê en Want daar’s skoenlappers begin ...

Time out is an interesting thematic development in the novels of Marita van der Vyver. She had previously investigated the themes of love and being together (eros), and then she worked with the death of a mother-in-the-text. Now she describes the devastating effect of the death of a little daughter on the mother-in-the-text. She delves further into death's reach (thanatos). And though the Hester Human of the title exists in the spell of her child's death the whole time - in a way she is her child too - it is not a sombre title.

Set in South Africa at the zenith of the mid-1980’s Durban alternative club scene, Uptown Saturday Night, Downtown Sunday Morning re-captures in sensuous detail the technicoloured vibrancy of the city’s counter-culture and its struggle within the oppressive regime of the day.

Charting an erratic course through Durban’s underbelly, the novel’s obtuse sharp-focus lens pulls you into the unhinged psyche of James DuPont and the Durban he inhabits. Acidly honest, it is in turn shocking¸ poignant and seductive.

An astonishingly unique testament to a lost generation and their city.

Never trust a werewolf.

That's Gia's first lesson as she enters the wolf cages at Special Branch, the police force that deal with the illegal use of magic. But working with the tracker-werewolves is not the greatest danger she faces: Gia is a spy. She risks torture and death if her secret is discovered.

Then Gia receives shocking news. Her little brother has disappeared, taken out of his bed, in the middle of the night. She doesn't want to believe that Special Branch is responsible, but who did take Nico? Could it be the magical terrorists, the Belle Gente? Or is there another, even stranger explanation?